


The Path

by smithy_of_words



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 06:37:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15261573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smithy_of_words/pseuds/smithy_of_words
Summary: Ciri begins to make her way on the Path without supervision, while reflecting on the past.





	The Path

Ciri rolled the coat she’d _borrowed_ (she insisted upon the terminology) into a ball and tried her best to make herself comfortable.

 

It wasn’t looking particularly likely.

 

She huffed away a piece of straw and rolled to her other side.

 

A mosquito hummed somewhere nearby.

She groaned and sat up, glaring around for the source of the noise.

 

All of a sudden, it stopped.

_It’s taunting me._

She narrowed her eyes, muttering.

“Come on, then, you bastard.”

 

Something moved out of the corner of her eye, and she snapped her hand to grab it. A small stain covered the thumb and forefinger of the right glove.

They had been fine black leather, when she’d first slipped them on over her calloused hands, six months prior.

 

 

Ciri had smiled at Yennefer from across the shop floor.

_Just like yours_ ; she willed her thoughts to reach her.

“We’ll take two pair, if you please.”

The shop-keeper’s eyes widened at the gold crowns pressed into his sweaty palms. He began to open his mouth, say how it was all too much, but well…the war had been hard on everyone.

It wasn’t every day a simple man saw money like that.

Yennefer met his eyes and chuckled, one edge of her smile turning up, just so.

The man muttered something about needing to check the stock in the back and walked away.

 

Ciri rolled her eyes. “Did you really have to startle him like that? It makes folks’ minds itchy.”

Yennefer grinned slyly. “Well, I should be allowed a bit of fun, too. Won’t be much to do around here with you off, saving the world…again.”

She cleared her throat, patting Ciri on the head. (It was difficult since the young witcher had grown at least a head taller than her.)

Ciri lowered her head with a smile.

 

“Oh, I’m sure you and Geralt will think of loads of things to get up to.”

Yennefer motioned with her chin to leave the shop, and they strode out into the streets of Toussaint.

 

Ciri stared down at her hands.

_I don’t think the shop-keep envisioned I’d be using these under quite these circumstances._

The leather was now wearing thin around the palms, where she gripped her swords.

She had leaned them against the wooden wall opposite her. They, steel and silver both, glinted a bit in the moonlight that shone between the barn’s slats.

She smiled softly.

They were almost like traveling companions.

And they didn’t snore like Geralt.

The smile left her face.

 

_Geralt…_

She sniffed a bit, then smacked her own cheeks.

“Right, enough whining. You’re grown now. No time for moping.”

Ciri sighed and tried to make herself comfortable.

_At least they let me sleep in the barn._

The last people she’d come across hadn’t been so understanding. She’d run into the nearby forest and scrambled up a tree waiting, until the angry villagers had grown bored and returned home, to leave.

 

Sleep came on creeping, then all at once.

 

When she awoke, it wasn’t yet light, but the farmers had already started their daily chores.

A small knock came at the stall doors, and a smaller voice hissed out.

“Witcher lady! Me ma and da told me to tell you to come eat, else there’ll be nowt until sundown.”

 

Ciri wrenched one eye open, scanning the scrawny child.

“All right. Just give me a minute.”

The girl stood there, as if transfixed.

Ciri chuckled, pulling herself up into a sitting position.

“I take it you want to pester me with some questions?”

“If you’re not old, how come you have white hair like my gran?”

Ciri stood up, brushing the straw from her clothes, and pulled the wolf amulet from her pocket, draping it around her neck.

“How about I tell you everything you want to know after I eat.”

She put both swords in their respective sheathes, and strapped them to her back, tightening the leather across her chest.

 

A call rang out.

“Come, child, stop bothering the lady. I told you to bring her in to break her fast, not talk her to death!”

The girl plodded into the yard.

“I’m not! She’s gonna tell me stories, about her hair, and her swords, and…and everything!”

Ciri rubbed the sleep from her eyes with a yawn.

 

The sky was just beginning to turn a watery grey along the ridge, and she smiled, feeling a warmer breeze blow across her face.

It was going to be another long day.

Her medallion hummed quietly against her chest, thrumming in time with her heartbeat.

Her smile turned into a feral grin.

“Time for some fun.”

**Author's Note:**

> I realized I'd never written about this series before. Let me know what you think!


End file.
